Where to Buy Nigerian Food Online in the USA: What to Look For
If you live somewhere without an African market nearby, you are buying online. The question is how to avoid the three ways it usually goes wrong.
1. Freshness beats price
Most African groceries are dried, which people take to mean they last forever. They do not.
Ground egusi turns rancid within a couple of months at room temperature. Sharp rather than nutty means it is gone.
Crayfish loses aroma fast once ground. Buy it whole.
Dried leaves fade within months. If your uziza smells of nothing, that is why the soup tastes of nothing.
A shop selling the cheapest egusi in the country is usually selling old egusi.
2. Watch the shipping weight
Garri, rice, palm oil and yam are heavy.
- Buy heavy things in bulk, rarely. One 20lb bag beats four 5lb bags on shipping.
- Order everything at once. Four shops means four shipping charges. This is how people overpay.
If you are near the seller, ask about local pickup.
3. Check whether they know what they are selling
A shop that lists ugba without mentioning abacha, or sells akanwu without explaining that you strain it, is reselling from a wholesaler list.
You want the shop that tells you not to stir egusi for ten minutes.
What is genuinely hard to find
Storing it once it arrives
- Freezer: egusi, crayfish, prawns, dried fish, iru.
- Fridge: ogiri, okpeyi.
- Cupboard: garri, rice, flours, whole spices, bitter kola.
- Cool, dry, airy, never sealed damp: stockfish.
If you are starting from nothing, the Egusi Soup Starter Box covers a full pot plus the swallow in one shipment.
We ship anywhere in the United States, and deliver locally around Dallas and Fort Worth with pickup available.